


it doesn't take a blood pact to bind me to you

by keijibeam



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, literally sickeningly sweet hxc saccharine fluff, there's a lil bit of blood i don't think it's enough to make anyone squeamish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28281588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keijibeam/pseuds/keijibeam
Summary: “Spilling blood...It’s kind of an intense way to view it, but it’s also, like, the ultimate pact, right?”Hanamaki gave him a goofy grin. “How creepily romantic."--With Hanamaki's older sister's stolen earrings and Issei's grandmother's stolen sewing kit, Hanamaki decides they should pierce each other's ears.
Relationships: Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei
Comments: 2
Kudos: 55





	it doesn't take a blood pact to bind me to you

“Is it numb yet?”

The ice cube Issei held in his hand had done more to numb his fingers than his ear, but most of it had already melted and dripped onto his shoulder. It wasn’t going to make a difference if he held it up any longer.

“Good enough,” he said with a shrug. A bowl of ice sat on the floor of Hanamaki’s bedroom, into which he dropped the remaining fragment of ice. He rested his hands against Hanamaki’s waist. “I’m ready.”

Hanamaki scooted closer to give each of them better access and Issei gratefully dug his fingers in, bracing himself. He wasn’t exactly nervous as Hanamaki reached up and took his ear between his fingers with one hand and held a fresh sponge behind his ear with the other, but he was precisely that as the needle in his boyfriend’s hand closed in on its target.

The breeze that tickled Issei’s ear a moment before stopped as Hanamaki took a deep breath. “On the count of three, okay?”

“Aren’t I the one who’s supposed to breathe deeply?”

“Yeah, sure, breathe real deep. The oxygen will protect you. Now: three, two -- ”

“Ah!”

On “two,” Hanamaki stabbed him through the earlobe. It hurt, it hurt, it really fucking hurt, but

Issei did his best not to flinch away; instead, he dug his fingers deeper into Hanamaki’s side.

“You got sharp fingers.” Hanamaki pulled his hands away and his mouth made a small ‘o.’ “When I move my hands, the needle stays. ‘Cause it’s stuck in the sponge. It looks like you have a big sponge for an earring.”

Issei pinched Hanamaki’s sides and he wailed and jerked away. “I don’t want a sponge for an earring. Show me the contraband.”

“So stubborn.” Hanamaki picked up the pile of earrings they had stolen from his older sister’s room and held them out for Issei to look through. Among the pile was a unicorn, a smiling onigiri, a pink heart, and one that he was certain was the kanji for Hanamaki’s sister’s name. They were all designs that she had outgrown, but the last one was too conspicuous to wear openly. He pointed to the unicorn and Hanamaki nodded. “Good choice.”

As soon as he had gotten used to the sensation of having a sharp object stuck through his ear, Hanamaki pushed the needle all the way through and replaced it with the unicorn stud. It wasn’t the same sharp pain Issei felt when initially stabbed, but it didn’t feel great either. The backing clicked into place and Hanamaki pulled his hands away, dropping the needle and sponge onto a towel that sat on his floor.

“Cute,” he said, rubbing his thumb along the ridge of Issei’s ear. “How was it? Bad?”

“What, this?” Issei scoffed. “Not half as bad as getting hit by one of Oikawa’s serves.”

“Ouch. But that’s not exactly a no, is it?”

Issei squeezed Hanamaki’s cheeks between his hands and pulled him closer, until his face was in reach. He pressed a kiss to Hanamaki’s forehead, to the tip of his nose, then passed down to his mouth and lingered there. “I feel pretty good for someone who was recently stabbed by their boyfriend.” He closed the distance and placed a small kiss on the corner of Hanamaki’s mouth; and then one on the opposite corner, and then a third in the center, for good measure.

“Well, it must have hurt a lot or you wouldn’t be trying to distract me.” He wrapped his arms around Issei’s neck and let himself be kissed again. “But it’s not like I really mind that type of distraction.”

After one final kiss, Issei pulled away. “Your turn.”

Hanamaki pushed his lips out in a pout but pulled away obediently to sit across from Issei. He pulled an ice cube from the bowl, larger than the sliver Issei had abandoned but still mostly melted, and pressed it to his ear.

“So, Hiro,” at the sound of his name, Hanamaki smiled and stretched a leg out until their feet touched, “what prompted this?” Hanamaki lifted an eyebrow, and Issei gestured to his fresh piercing. “Why did you decide we should pierce our ears?”

“Whaaat?” Hanamaki nudged Issei with his foot. “You don’t remember? It was your idea in the first place.”

“ _My_ idea? When did I suggest this?”

“It was the first time we hung out outside of club! A couple months into our first year.” Issei still stared blankly at Hanamaki, so he continued. “You said you’d always wanted to get a piercing but were never allowed, because your parents or school or sports or whatever. I figured, now that volleyball is over and graduation is near…”

A vague memory came back to him. Hanamaki had pointed to a stranger on the street with a pierced nose and mentioned how cool it looked, and that had been Issei’s response. What he definitely remembered about that afternoon was that he had never considered a piercing before then, but when Hanamaki pointed it out, he had been fifteen and desperate to sound cool. So he lied. But that wasn’t a secret Hanamaki needed to be made aware of yet.

“So you suggested this because I wanted it? How sweet.”

Hanamaki puckered his lips and blew a kiss toward Issei then dropped backward to the floor, spreading his limbs out as he laid down. “Hey, Issei.”

“Yeah?”

“Have you heard there’s like...a _gay_ ear?”

“What? How is an ear gay?”

“Like, in other countries, men will pierce one of their ears to let people know they’re gay.”

“Really? Which ear is it?”

“Dunno, I guess it’s different in every country.”

“Interesting,” Issei hummed. It wasn’t the fact that was particularly interesting, but he imagined Hanamaki’s reason for bringing it up was. And he had a hunch that it was connected to the real reason why Hanamaki had asked to pierce their ears in the first place.

“It’s too bad,” Hanamaki continued, “that it’s not a practice here. After graduation, I won't be here to protect you from all your fans. I wish I could stick an earring on you to let everyone know you’re mine.”

_Ah, so there it is._

“That kinda sounds like the opposite though? It sounds more like...an invitation. To let other men know that, hey, I’m available and I also like men, so go ahead and hit me up.”

“Oh...you’re right.”

Issei couldn’t see Hanamaki’s face, but he imagined it was contorted in confusion and disappointment. The image he produced in his head looked too cute for him to leave Hanamaki alone. 

“I don't need an earring to tell people I'm unavailable. If I wanted them to know, I would just…” He crawled forward, over Hanamaki, until their faces were aligned. Hanamaki’s hair had gotten longer over the past few months, long enough that Issei could reach down and tuck it behind his ear.

Beneath him, Hanamaki grinned. “You would just…?”

He dropped his head down to Hanamaki’s shoulder and nuzzled against his neck. Hanamaki’s free hand crept up his side, over his back, and gripped into his shoulder as Issei’s kiss found the pulse in his neck. “You wanna know what I would do?”

The breath against his neck made Hanamaki shiver. “Go on. Tell me.”

“I would...” and then he pulled away abruptly. He sat up until he was straddling Hanamaki’s waist; Hanamaki’s hand dropped to his thigh. “Pull out my phone and show them all the cute photos I have of my super hot boyfriend.”

“Then you’d be in danger of being seen as a stalker.”

“If that’s the case, I would probably seem even less attractive. Either way, it’s a win.”

“Fair point.”

He leaned down again, crossing his arms against Hanamaki’s chest and resting his chin there. “How’s your ear?”

“Kinda cold. Not as cold as my fingers. I think this ice is mostly a puddle on the floor now.” He sat up, forcing Issei to do the same. “Might as well go for it.”

“Are you sure? We could get more ice.”

Hanamaki shook his head. “No, let’s do it.”

They repositioned themselves so they could both sit back on their legs. Issei was still practically in Hanamaki’s lap, but there was _some_ distance between them. He picked up the needle, the one he’d stolen from his grandmother’s sewing kit, and wiped it down with an alcohol-soaked cotton pad.

_Sorry, grandma. Promise to return it soon._

He felt a pinch on both sides as Hanamaki gripped into his waist, and he wondered if he had held on that tightly. “You okay? We could steal some of those gem stickers from your little sister and pretend they’re earrings, like she does.”

Hanamaki bit his lip and furrowed his brow. “No. We should match. I wanna do this with you.”

It was hard not to notice how nervous he was. When Issei put his hand against Hanamaki’s throat, he could feel his heartbeat racing through his pulse. His nerves had contorted his expression into a grimace, which Hanamaki had undoubtedly convinced himself showed off his nerves of steel rather than gave away the fact that he had none. But Issei didn’t ask again, because Hanamaki had made up his mind, and he wanted to share this, too.

On the towel beside the pile of earrings stolen from Hanamaki’s older sister was a pile of hair clips stolen from his younger sister. Issei picked up one with a unicorn on it -- to match his new earring -- and used it to pin back the hair around Hanamaki’s ear; then he picked up a sponge and held it in place.

“On the count of three.”

“Don’t do it on two like I did.”

“I won’t.”

“Do it on three.”

“I will.”

“Promise?”

“I promise. Ready?”

Hanamaki nodded once.

“Okay. Three, two -- ”

“Ah!”

On “two,” Issei did not stab his boyfriend through the earlobe. Instead, Hanamaki jerked away, towards the needle, and a thin line of red blossomed across his cheek.

“Shit! Hiro!” Issei dropped the needle to the floor. As it rolled away, he made a brief mental apology to his grandmother, whose needle was now lost to Hanamaki’s bedroom.

“Ow ow ow! You scratched me!”

“You flinched!” He grabbed Hanamaki’s face and turned the scratched side towards him. “Why did you flinch?!”

“Because you were about to stab me! Obviously!”

Issei decided an argument wasn’t as important as the bright red blood sprouting from Hanamaki’s cheek. He grabbed a fresh cotton pad and pressed it against the scratch, wiping his cheek clean. “Guess we should have used stickers after all.”

“No way! We can still do it!”

“ _No way._ I already drew blood. I don’t want to do that again.”

“ _Issei_.” Hanamaki drew every syllable out until his name was three times as long.

“ _Takahiro._ ” Issei wrapped his arms around Hanamaki and pulled him closer. “You know Tokyo isn’t really that far.”

Hanamaki ducked his head down and buried his face against Issei’s shoulder. “I don’t know what that has to do with anything.”

Issei squeezed tighter. “We’ll only be a train ride away from each other.”

“ _‘Only a train ride’_ makes it sound like we’ll be on opposite sides of the city.”

“It’s only a little farther than that.”

Hanamaki punched his fist into Issei’s back. “Shut up. It’s a lot farther than that.”

Issei laughed quietly and squeezed his arms a little tighter before he pulled away to examine Hanamaki’s face. The scratch had already stopped bleeding. It was only a little thing anyway. When he looked up, he realized Hanamaki was examining his face in the same way. He brought a hand up to cup his cheek, running his thumb lightly under the scrape.

“Spilling blood...It’s kind of an intense way to view it, but it’s also, like, the ultimate pact, right?”

Hanamaki gave him a goofy grin. “How creepily romantic.”

“Creepy? Isn’t that what you were trying to do?”

A bright blush spread across Hanamaki’s cheeks as his mouth hung open. “What? Whaaat? Whaaaaa -- ”

Issei pressed a fresh cotton pad to his cheek, one that he had wetted in the bowl of ice water, to clean off a speck of dried blood. This time when Hanamaki yelped and tried to flinch away, Issei held him in place.

"You don't have anything to worry about, y’know? No matter how far away you are, I'll always be yours. Even without a flesh wound to prove it."

Hanamaki’s cheeks turned even redder. “I'm really fucking transparent aren't I?” His hand was raised in an attempt to hide behind it, but Issei wouldn’t allow that. He grabbed the hand blocking Hanamaki’s face and locked their fingers together.

“Or maybe it’s because I know you so well.”

“I guess there's that.” His voice sounded exasperated, but the smile on his face and in his eyes said otherwise.

“You said you wished you could put jewelry on me to let people know I'm taken, but you know...that’s already a practice here.” Issei pulled the hand he held up to his face, resting his cheek against it. “If we're gonna get matching jewelry as adults anyway, shouldn't it be rings?” 

Then Hanamaki laughed, and even though it was directed at him, the sound of it made Issei's chest feel full.

“Be reasonable, Issei. We're still kids.”

“Yeah, which is why I’m not giving you anything. Yet.”

The smile on Hanamaki’s face slowly faded. He squinted at Issei. “You’re serious?”

“What?” He turned his face towards the hand pressed against his cheek and kissed each finger. “Don’t get overexcited,” he mumbled against the back of his hand. On the third finger, he stopped to meet Hanamaki’s eyes. “It’s just jewelry, right?”

Hanamaki jerked his hand back. He stared down at his ring finger and Issei bit back a grin. “What if i’m too broke and can’t afford to get you a ring? I’ll be in Tokyo for the next four years. That place isn’t cheap.”

“Get me a watch instead.”

“Have you seen the price of watches?”

“A cheap one. With a rubber wrist.”

“Does that mean you’re gonna buy me a rubber ring?”

“So you _do_ want a ring.”

Hanamaki narrowed his eyes at Issei for a long moment, and then he lunged forward, wrapping both arms around Issei’s neck and pushing him to the floor.

“Okay,” he breathed so softly against Issei’s ear that he could barely hear it, “I’ll take a sticker earring. For now.”

Issei smiled and tangled a hand in Hanamaki’s hair.

“But the ring better not be made of rubber.”

He laughed against Hanamaki’s hair. “Alright, I promise. Should we go get the stickers?”

“No...I wanna stay like this a little longer.”

“Sure.” Issei smoothed his hand over Hanamaki’s hair, pulled Hanamaki tighter against him with his free hand, and pressed a kiss to his temple. “We can stay like this as long as you like.”

**Author's Note:**

> please check out [this art my best frenemy drew of mattsun smoochin makki's fingies](https://t-recksie.tumblr.com/post/638976036769529856/the-smile-on-hanamakis-face-slowly-faded-he)
> 
> the first matsuhana fic i ever read was abt them breaking up bc makki was moving to tokyo after high school. (actually the fic was so fxxking beautifully written that i can't even be mad abt it.) after that i said no thank you, what if they get engaged instead. also have you seen that redraw furudate released of makki post-timeskip...with his wedding ring...
> 
> the idea of makki being too poor for a ring and buying mattsun a watch instead is [stolen from this tweet](https://twitter.com/SLemons29/status/1323692241542590464)
> 
> thank you so much for reading! every hit kudos bookmark and comment means the world to me!!!
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/boomairspike) | [tumblr](https://boomairspike.tumblr.com/)


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